HDL or High density lipoprotein is also known as good cholesterol. It has been known that the good cholesterol helps protect the heart from diseases. A recent study though concluded that high levels of HDL matters less compared to how the good cholesterol functions.
The good cholesterol in your body works like a boat by cleaning it up of unwanted cholesterol. The HDL brings the excess cholesterol to the liver which gets rid of the unneeded cholesterol. This mechanism decreases the chances of cholesterol being stuck around the walls of the arteries causing plaques in the long run, and leading to a heart attack.
In the study, doctors drew blood from 200 patients and measured the thickness of the carotid artery. The blood was then subjected to the laboratory experiments which suggested that people with low levels of HDL may have thicker carotid arteries because of plaque build up.
In another experiment, there were two groups of subjects. One group were bypass surgery patients and another group were clean of any heart problems. This stage of the study revealed that those with blockages had poorer ability to remove cholesterol compared to those with unblocked arteries.
Other studies though point out to people with cardiac problems but with high levels of good cholesterol. This just shows that their HDLs might not be functioning properly. The high levels of HDL does not necessarily mean that their function is also very good while low levels of HDL does not necessarily mean that there is also a low ability to get rid of cholesterol.
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